Sifting sand at the annual Sandsculping Festival

According to Sand Lubbers, the event coordinator, the Navarre Sand Sculpting Festival was a big success.

"I think we had at least 20,000 people see the event this weekend," Bill Knight of Sand Lubbers said. "I think there were 15,000 on Saturday alone."

Meridith South of MDI said the event was highly publicized.

"We were in print and on the air in Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana," said South. "We also targeted Panama City and Destin. We're hoping when they see Navarre, they may think about staying here next year."

The strategy may have worked for Charles Whittemore and his family from Nashville.

"When we decided to spend a week here, we checked some of the local blogs for what to do in Navarre," he said. "We saw this event and decided to check it out."

David Judy Lovett are staying two weeks on Pensacola Beach.

"We saw the event advertised on television and came over today," Lovett said.

Knight said that more than 70 tons of sand was brought in from a local quarry.

"All of the artists worked together to create a welcome sculpture under the big tent," he said. "Artists were from Latvia, California, Texas, Washington, Florida and New Hampshire."

The winner by 20 votes of the People's Choice Award was Rusty Croft of Carmel, California.

"It's my first People's Choice Award. Thanks all those who came out voted for me." Croft received a check for $2,000 for his effort.